Self-Publishing in the Philippines

Patricia May Jurilla has studied self-publishing in the Philippines as part of her dissertation. According to her, the most significant literary works in the Philippines were originally self-published. Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere was self-published in Berlin in 1887 and El Filibusterismo in Ghent in 1891.

The first Filipino novel Ninay (Costumbres Filipinas) by Pedro Paterno was published by the author in Madrid in 1885. All these works were in Spanish. Jurilla believes that the first novel in Filipino Ang Kasaysayan ng Magkaibigang si Nena at Neneng may have also been published by the author, Valeriano Hernendez y Pena in Manila in 1905 since the book bears the imprint of the printer. The most famous work, Banaag at Sikat was also published by the author Lope k. Santos also in Manila in 1906.

Since most publishing houses focus on textbooks and religious books, the writers themselves have established publishing houses to publish their own literary works as well other works. These writer/publishers include Alberto S. Florentino, Andres Cristobal Cruz and F. Sionil Jose. A number of writers have also banded together to publish their own works. To this day, the estimated market for literary works is about 5,000 readers. Poetry has even a smaller market. Thus, groups such as High Chair (formed in 2002) publish their own poems as well as the poems of others in chapbooks and on the Internet. In the literary scene, self-publishing was practically a necessity given the social (as with Jose Rizal) situation and market forces (F. Sionil Jose and company).

The literary situation in way mirrors the situation of the komiks. As noted, Pablo Gomez, Nestor Redondo, Alfredo Alcala and others also formed publishing houses outside of the mainstream. The difference here is that there could be more room for creator freedom since the komiks market was huge. Of course, the komiks monopoly still ruled and still took over till the end.

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